Ashes
by Son of Jason
Summary: When Garrus applies for a job at Fazbear's Fright, an old family mystery comes back to haunt him. Forced to take part in a twisted game of survival, will he be able to escape this ghost story, or will he succumb to his own phantoms? Sequel to Scrapyard.
1. Hired

_**Ashes**_

 **Chapter One: "Hired"**

 _Fazbear's Fright – August 12th, 2023;_

Garrus North stared down at the newspaper clipping in his hand. It was an advertisement for Fazbear's Fright: The Horror Attraction. The company was looking for somebody to look over the equipment during the night hours, and the twenty-eight year old man thought it would be the perfect job for him.

He scratched his magnificent beard in thought. His parents had been mad at him when he told them he was going for the job. They never told him why he shouldn't, but they were strongly against his decision. He sighed and shoved the newspaper clipping into his pocket. He entered the attraction.

* * *

"So you're telling me that there's an extra room in that one place we searched?" Percy asked the man in front of him.

"Yeah. It wasn't shown on the cameras, but I know it's there." The man said. "I can show you where it is, if you'd like."

"You do realize what happened last time we checked that location, right man?" Percy asked.

"Yeah." He said. "There was a huge explosion. Most of the artifacts were lost."

"There was more than that..." Percy sighed. "Dude, are you even sure there's anything worthwhile in there?"

"Why would they keep it hidden if it wasn't full of something?" The man had a point. Percy looked behind him and saw a man approaching.

"Hold on Mike," Percy said, "I've got to deal with this guy." Mike nodded.

Percy examined the newcomer. He was Caucasian and had reddish-brown hair styled into an afro, and he had the bushiest beard Percy had ever seen. He wore a death metal t-shirt and blue jeans. When he got close enough, the man held out his hand. Percy shook it.

"I'm Garrus." The man said. "I heard that you had an opening."

"Yeah." Percy said. "We have a position open for the graveyard. You up to it, dude?" Garrus nodded.

"I usually stay up late anyway." He said.

"Well then, you're hired." Garrus' blue eyes widened.

"Just like that?" He asked.

"We haven't had too many people volunteer." Percy said, sighing. "I'll just do a basic record check and add you to the roster."  
"Thanks." Percy motioned for Garrus to follow.

"This will be your office." Percy said, showing Garrus a room with a desk, a box of animatronic parts, and posters. Garrus thought that it was creepy, the way the heads looked at him... "I'm the boss around here. Name's Percy. I'll go into more detail on what you have to do on the phone tonight."

"Okay..." Garrus said, still a bit shocked.

"Your shift starts at midnight, so be here on the dot!" Percy warned. "I've got to go talk to this guy. His name's Mike and he worked the night shift at another location a long time ago. He keeps telling me about this extra room..." Percy sighs. "I just hope we find something worthwhile."

"I'll be here, sir." Percy chuckled.

"No need for formalities. I'll see you later." He said. "Go home and get some rest, you'll need it." Percy left Garrus alone in his new office. The man looked again at the heads in the box, and his unease only grew. He sighed and decided to go home to sleep. Tonight would be a long night...


	2. Discovery

**Chapter Two: "Discovery"**

 _Freddy Fazbear's Pizza – August 5th, 2023;_

Leo stared at the empty shells of his old friends. For nearly thirty years, he's been trying to fix them. He'd repaired the suits as much as he could, but they still refused to come to life. Their eyes still blazed strongly after all of this time...

Leo sighed and put his head in his paws. Maybe he'd just been wasting his time. Maybe they just couldn't be fixed. He'd spent so much time in this room over the years, and it was all for nothing. He got up, ready to leave the room when he heard a voice.

" **Save him**." The voice said. It sent a chill up Leo's spine. He'd heard that exact same voice before, and there was only one person that voice could belong to...

"Fritz." Leo growled, turning around to face him. However, the voice didn't belong to Fritz. Rather, it belonged to a purple bear that looked almost exactly like Goldie. The shadow bear pointed at the lion, a look of anguish upon his face.

" **Save him. Save them**." He said, still pointing.

"Save who?" Leo asked, a little set off by the appearance of the creature.

" **Save him**." The figure faded into shadows.

Leo blinked. Was he hallucinating? What was that? Who did he have to save, and how would that save the others?

The lion turned around. He'd been standing in front of the door to the back room. Maybe if he walked in that direction... Leo put his paw on the handle and twisted it.

* * *

"Any change?" A repaired Mangle asked as soon as he left.

"No." He said.

"Oh..." She said, walking back towards Pirate's Cove. The Toys had all taken the positions of the originals during their stay. Mangle was in Pirate's Cove while Fred, Bon, and Chi took the stage. Leo stayed in the back room most of the time while Amanda resided in Puppet's room. Puppet... Well he hadn't taken Goldie's 'death' too well. The slender being refused to leave the bear's side, and got angry at anyone who tried to move the body to where Leo could work on it.

The lion made his way over to the bathrooms, the shadow bear's words echoing in his mind. Who was he supposed to save? How would he save them? Why does it even matter? Why is he even considering taking advice from a shadow? He stopped when he reached where he'd discovered the bodies. He looked around, wondering if there was anything he had missed all those years ago...

The doors to the bathrooms were boarded up. To the lion's right was a dead end, but to his left was a door. He'd seen the door multiple times, but he'd never even thought of checking what might be behind it. There was just no reason to. Until now... He walked up to the door and held his breath.

The heavy door swung open noisily on rusted hinges. Leo peered into the dark, foreboding room. In the corner of the room were a trio of arcade machines that were rusted and battered from age, much like everything else in the abandoned Pizzeria. Mold had formed where puddles of toxic water had sat for decades unchecked, giving the room a musty odor.

The curious lion set foot in the room, being careful of where he stepped. Through the thick darkness, he could barely make out a shape. He slowly crept forward until he could finally see what it was. When he did, his eyes widened.

"Are you okay?" He asked. There was no response. He shook the rabbit slightly, but it was still as a statue. He sighed and tried to pick it up and drag it out of the room. When he did, it opened its eyes and screeched.

* * *

 _Garrus' Apartment – August 12th, 2023;_

Garrus gasped as he flung straight up in his bed. He breathed heavily before looking around. He was still in his room, not in an abandoned pizza joint. He sighed deeply as his black Shih Tzu jumped on his bed and licked his face.

"I'm alright, Farley." He said, chuckling. He pet Farley a few times before glancing over at his clock. His shift was going to start soon anyways.

The new night guard stood up and went to his dresser. He grabbed his usual attire since Percy hadn't mentioned any kind of dress code for workers. Then, he took a quick shower and tried to tame his hair, but failed. He got dressed and went to the downstairs kitchen. He sighed as he thought about his parents.

"Dad's the only reason I have this place." Garrus said to himself. It was true. His father was a talented artist and had made a moderate amount of money for his works. He'd even created a couple of games that people played in their spare time. His mother was the owner of the local daycare and preschool. She loved caring for the children, but it was an expensive business. It was a miracle that they had enough money before Garrus moved out, yet Dad still managed to get him an apartment.

He sighed and grabbed the keys to his car. It was at least twenty years old, which made Garrus surprised that it still worked. His father had passed it down to him when he moved out. It had tons of memoirs from the past, including an inflatable Batman based off of the animated series from when his father was a child. Dad always mentioned having a friend who would ask how Batman was doing every time they met, but would never say anything else about this friend. That was a shame, Garrus had wanted to meet him.

He started the car up and drove to the attraction. He had to admit that it looked creepy in the dark, but looked perfectly average during the day. Garrus shivered at the thought of having those heads stare at him all night. The fact that they had been in his dream didn't help anything.

He parked the car and got out, glancing around nervously. He had a bad feeling about this place. He just passed it off as nerves. It wouldn't look good on his resume if he had been fired on the first day of the job.

He went inside and reached the office. He slid down onto his office chair and tried to avoid looking at the heads. Almost as soon as he made himself comfortable, the phone began to ring. It rang three times before going to voice-mail.

" _Hey-hey! Glad you came back for another night!_ " Garrus frowned. This was his first night. " _I promise, it will be a lot more interesting this time. We found some... Some great new relics over the weekend, and we're tracking down a new lead right now! So uh... Lemme just update you real quick, then you can get to work._ "

"Okay." Garrus sighed. So far, this job seemed boring.

" _Like, the attraction opens in like... A week. So we have to make sure that everything works, and nothing catches on fire!_ " Percy said it as if it were some sort of joke. " _Uh... When the place opens, people will come in at the opposite end of the building and make their way towards you, then past you, and out the exit."_

"I kinda already figured that out." Garrus remarked. Luckily, Percy couldn't hear him.

" _Uh... Yeah. You've officially become part of the attraction._ " Percy continued. " _You'll be starring as...The security guard!_ "

"Hooray." Garrus said flatly.

" _So not only will you be monitoring the people on the cameras,you know, to make sure no one steals anything or makes out in the corner-_ "

"Because that's the worst thing that could happen." Garrus joked.

" _But you'll also be a part of the show._ " Percy continued like Garrus had said nothing. " _It'll make it feel really authentic, I think. Uh... Now let me tell you about what's new. We found another set of drawings, always nice, and a Foxy head! Which we think could be authentic! Then again,it might just be another crappy cosplay..._ "

"It probably is." Garrus said, thinking about how easy it was to fake something. Dad had to deal with a lot of his work being forged.

" _And we found a desk fan. Very old school, metal though,so watch the fingers. Uh heh... Uh... Right now the place is just, you know... Flashing lights, and spooky props._ " He sounded irritated, as if displeased by the turnout. " _Uh... I honestly thought we'd have more by now. Uh... If we don't have something really cool by next week, we may have to suit you up in a furry suit and make you walk around saying 'Boo!'_ "

"How about no?" Garrus asked while Percy chuckled.

" _But you know, like I said, we're trying to track down a good lead right now._ " He said. " _Uh... Some guy who helped design one of the buildings says there was like, an extra room that got boarded up, or something like that._ "

"Already told me." Garrus said, rolling his eyes.

" _So we're gonna take a peek and see what we find. Uh... For now, just get comfortable with the new setup. Um... You can check the security cameras over to your right with a click of that blue button._ " Garrus presses the button and a monitor moves in front of him. To be honest, it made him jump a bit. " _Uh... You can toggle between the hall cams and the vent cams._ "

"Why are there cameras in the vents?" Garrus asked, but Percy couldn't hear him.

" _Uh... Then over to your far left, uh... You can flip up your maintenance panel! You know, use this to reboot any systems that may go offline._ " Percy chucked. " _So in trying to make the place feel vintage, we may have overdone it a bit._ " He chuckled again. " _Some of this equipment is barely functional. Yeah, I wasn't joking about the fire. Tha-tha-that's a real risk._ "

"Well that isn't terrifying." Garrus said, squirming in his seat a little bit.

" _Uh... The most important thing you want to watch for... Is the ventilation._ " Percy continued. " _Look, this place will give you the spooks man, and if you let that ventilation go offline... Then you'll start seeing some crazy stuff man. Keep that air flowin'. Okay, keep an eye on things, and we'll try to have something new for ya tomorrow night._ "

With that, Percy hung up and left Garrus in stunned silence. Maybe he should've listened to his parents. He looked up at the clock and his eyes widened. His shift was almost over! How could Percy talk for that long?! Garrus fiddled with the cameras and maintenance panel for the rest of the night until the bell chimed for him to leave.

* * *

Percy walked into the burned Freddy Fazbear's. Just last weekend, the team had come to this location in search of relics. That day had quickly turned into a nightmare. And now, just a few days later, he was back.

"This way." Mike said, motioning for Percy to follow. The two made their way towards the remains of the bathrooms. Not much had been damaged in the explosion other than the back room and most of the dining area. Still, fire had spread after the explosion and the bathrooms were in pretty bad shape.

"Is this it?" Percy asked, pointing to a door to his left. Something about it gave him the creeps.

"Yeah." Mike said. Percy opened the door and his worried face melted into one of joy.

"Call the others." He said. "This is almost too good to be true..."


	3. Balloons

**Chapter Three: "Balloons"**

 _Safe Room – August 6th, 2023;_

"Hey!" Leo shouted, jumping away from the rabbit. The animatronic scurried to his feet, staring at the lion with fists raised. "Calm down!"

"Who are you?!" The bunny shouted. "What are you doing here?!"

"I live here!" Leo growled. "I should be asking you the same thing..."

"Leo! What's going on?!" Out of the corner of his eye, the lion saw Chi running towards the room. However, when she was mere inches from the door, she froze. "I can't move!"

"What?!" Leo turned his back on the decrepit rabbit and ran to the chicken's side. She tried to enter the room, but it looked like she was straining.

"It won't let me.." Finally, she gave up and took a few steps backwards. "Who's that?" She pointed a wing at the rabbit.

"I was trying to figure that out..." Leo growled. "What's your name?"

"My name is Springtrap..." Springtrap eyed the two warily. "I work with my friend Gold at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza... Or rather I used to." Leo frowned.

"Gold as in Golden Freddy?" He asked. Springtrap's eyes widen.

"You know him?!" Leo nods. "Where is he?!"

"You don't want to see him." Leo said. The rabbit growled.

"Bring me to him." Springtrap said. "I need to talk to him. Badly."

"That's the problem. Nobody can talk to him." Leo said. "He's dead, Spring."

"I don't believe you." The bunny growled, but his eyes betrayed him. They showed a mixture of different emotions. The ones Leo saw were surprise, fear, and anguish. "Show me the body."

"I don't think-"

"SHOW ME THE BODY!" Spring lunged at Leo and pinned him against the wall. Chi jumped and tried to enter to help, but she still couldn't move past the doors. Leo stared into the dull gray eyes of Spring.

"You won't kill me." The lion growled. "If you do, you'll never find him. I've faced much worse than you. If you think you're scaring me, you're kidding yourself." The lion chuckled, a gleam in his eyes.

"What's so funny?" Spring growled.

"Nothing." Leo lied. What he now saw in the rabbit's eyes was unease. This meant that his ruse was working. He'd been practicing this technique for quite a while. To put on an emotional mask so that the enemy couldn't read his thoughts. This in turn made Spring lower his own mask, letting Leo read his thoughts like an open book.

"Show me where Goldie is." The rabbit backed off, letting Leo slide to the floor.

"Are you sure you want that?" The lion smirked. "From the look in your eyes, he was close to you. Which is strange because he never mentioned you." Spring's eyes widened.

"What do you mean?" The rabbit was heartbroken. Goldie had never mentioned him?

"I've never heard of you before, bub." Leo stretched his neck. "None of us have. I guess he thought you weren't important enough to bring up."

"Shut up!" The rabbit yelled, holding his head. "Just take me to him..." Oily tears fell from the rabbit's face.

"Are you done with your little drama show?" Spring glared at Leo while the lion put his paw on the rabbit's shoulder. "I'll take you, but Puppet might get angry. If it makes you feel any better, I lied about him never mentioning you. I never talked with the guy, but I saw him every once in a while."

"Why would you say that?!" Spring shrugged off Leo's paw.

"Just wanted to see how much you cared for him." The lion said. "That's all."

"He's my only friend..." Spring breathed heavily. "He means the world to me. You could've just asked..."

"And you could've calmed down so that I could've explained everything to you." The lion rebutted. "You didn't have to pin me to a wall."

"Well if you're done being such a smart-Alec," Spring growled. "show me Goldie."

"Follow me..." Leo turned and left the room. Chi stood off to the side awkwardly, unable to decided what she should do. The golden rabbit left the room and stared Chi down. The chicken coughed and held out her wing.

"Chi..." The rabbit shook her wing.

"Springtrap." Then, the bunny ran off after Leo. When he entered the dining area; Fred, Bon, Mangle, and Amanda shot up from their positions.

"This is Springtrap." Leo announced. "I found him in a back room. He'll be staying with us." The others glanced at each other nervously. There was something about that rabbit that they didn't like.

"Are you sure, Leo?" Amanda asked.

"Yeah. I'm going to take him to meet Puppet." Leo sighed. "Wish me luck..." The lion lead Springtrap down the west hall. Ahead, Spring could see a poster of a brown bear that had wrinkled with age. He knew the bear as Fredbear, the only animatronic to perform before himself and Gold. Leo looked like he was bringing Spring to the poster, but he suddenly stopped.

"What is it?" Spring asked. He strained his ears for any kind of noise and heard childish giggles coming from their left. Leo entered a door in that direction and frowned.

"Who were you talking to, BB?" Spring entered the room to see a young human animatronic wearing red and blue striped clothing. Behind the boy, an almost identical girl version with blue and purple striped clothing sat crouched beneath a desk.

"Nobody." The boy said. "I was just pretending."

"Then who's that?" Spring asked, pointing to the girl. The girl's eyes widened and the boy looked shocked, but Leo looked confused.

"There's nobody there, Spring." The lion said. "This is BB. He's Chi's son. BB, this is Spring. He's an old friend of Goldie's." The boy nodded, but kept looking back at the girl beneath the desk.

"Are you saying you can't see her?" Spring asked. "There's a girl underneath the desk!"

"There's probably something wrong with your eyes, Spring." The lion said. "Nobody's under the desk. There's just some old equipment."

"Whatever." Spring growled. "Just take me to Gold already." Leo nodded and lead the animatronic out of the office. When he was gone, BB turned to the girl.

"He could see you?!" The girl nodded. "I thought you said I was the only one who could see you, JJ?!"

"Back at the old place," JJ said, "the night guards would sometimes see me. But the others never saw me. I don't know why he could."

"Let's just be glad that he didn't believe him..." BB said. The girl once again nodded. "So... What game do you want to play next?"

* * *

Leo put a paw on the poster from before and pushed. A section of the wall moved, surprising Spring. Inside, a slender being towered over a table. On that table...

"No..." Spring said, his worst fears now a reality. The being turned and seemed to stare straight into Spring's soul.

" _You_..." A disembodied voice echoed around them. Spring shivered, but Leo acted as if this was completely normal. " _Springtrap_..."

"You know him?!" Leo asked. The being nodded.

" _He performed with Goldie at the first Pizzeria_." The voice said. " _His line of animatronics was discontinued after a fatal accident there. The locks failed._ " Spring grimaced as he remembered the horrible sensation of that employee's blood coursing and staining his insides.

"How do you know him, Puppet?" The lion asked.

" _The Shadows talked about him a lot_." Puppet said. " _They kept me company before I found this body_."

"Shadows..." Leo said. "Does one of them look like Goldie, except purple?" Puppet chuckled.

" _That's Shaf_." Puppet said. " _The other is a pure black rabbit named Shab. They used to be friendly... But ever since Fritz died, Shaf has been acting strange._ "

"How so?" The lion asked.

" _He hasn't been acting like himself._ " Puppet revealed. " _And Shab's gone missing. They're old spirits, just younger than me. But they don't hold physical forms. They are purely made of shadows._ "

"And if one of them asked you to do something..." Leo said slowly. "Should you do it?"

" _If you value your sanity._ " Puppet said. " _They rarely ask for favors. If they contacted you, it's important._ "

"I understand." Leo said, his tone grave. "How does our new friend here connect to that?"

" _What did they ask of you_?" Puppet asked.

"Shaf told me to save him, and that it would save them." Puppet grimaced at these words, remembering that they once came from his own mouth.

" _And that's when you stumbled upon Spring_?" The lion nodded.

"Do you have any clue what he meant?" Leo asked. "I 'saved' Spring, but it looks like nothing has happened." The being looked back upon Goldie, whose eyes blazed with a golden light.

" _Maybe he didn't mean Spring..._ " Puppet said. " _Like I said, Shab is missing. Shaf must surely be yearning to have his friend back._ "

"You alright, Spring?" Leo asked. The rabbit remained silent and stared at the golden bear.

"So you weren't lying..." The rabbit gulped. "He's really gone..."

"It's alright, Spring." Leo said, putting his paw on the rabbit's shoulder. "I'm trying to fix them. We've lost more than one to whatever this is."

" _Until then..._ " Puppet said. " _I need my alone time. Be gone._ "

"Puppet!" The slender being glared.

" _I said..._ " He growled. " _Be gone!_ "

* * *

Garrus expected to be in his body when he woke up. Instead, he found himself in a body that had brown fur. To his right was a purple rabbit, and to his left was a chicken. He was in the place from his dreams!

He gently jumped off of the stage, landing without a sound. He explored a bit, heading towards the west hall. Upon entering, he found that there were things on the walls that hadn't been there in his dreams.

On the left wall were four pictures. The first one was a picture of four squares arranged into one giant square, but the top left square was yellow while the others were white. The next one was similar, except the yellow square was the bottom left one. The next likewise, except this one's yellow square was top right. Finally, the last one's yellow square was bottom right. Garrus guessed that it was some sort of code.

On the right wall was a message that read: 'BBdblclick.' Because of texting, Garrus knew that the message probably meant: 'Double click BB.' There have been subtler hints, but Garrus wasn't going to argue with a dream.

" **Follow me**..." A voice said behind him. Garrus turned to see the purple bear from his dreams. The bear turned and started to walk. Against his will, Garrus started to follow.

Shaf lead Garrus to the room where Leo had found Spring before vanishing. Garrus thought that meant he was supposed to go in. He tried to move forward, but just like Chi, he couldn't move past the door. He decided to turn around and look for something else to do, but pain erupted throughout his whole body and his ears began to ring. He was no longer in Freddy's body, but he was watching the bear be dismantled by a man in a purple outfit.

* * *

 _Garrus' Apartment – August 13th, 2023;_

Garrus finally awoke to the sound of his phone ringing. He quickly scrambled out of bed and picked it up, not bothering to check the number.

"Hello?" He asked.

" _Happy birthday_!" The voice of Garrus' mother came through the phone.

"Mom!" He said, chuckling. Then it hit him. "It's my birthday?!"

" _Yes, silly_!" Mom chuckled. " _How could you forget_?"

"I've been pretty busy with my new job, I guess." Garrus replied, stretching.

" _You didn't go for that night shift, did you honey_?" Mom's voice sounded full of concern.

"Yeah. I did." He said. "I got the job. It's pretty boring. I've been thinking of taking Dad's old 3DS with me." The line was silent for the longest time.

" _Don't take it with you_." Her voice was deathly serious. " _You need to pay attention. There's more to that job than meets the eye_."

"Like what?" Garrus asked. "Are those heads going to crawl out of the box and eat me?" He joked.

" _You're not that far off_..." She said. " _Promise me that you'll be safe._ "

"Mom, I'm going to be fine." Garrus tried to reassure her.

" _No_!" She screamed. " _You don't understand what they'll do to you_! _You don't understand what they did to your uncle_!" She gasped as if she had just let out something she wasn't supposed to say.

"What do you mean?" Garrus asked. "What did they do to Uncle Chuck?"

" _Nothing_." She said, breathing deeply. " _Just remember that you can't trust them. They'll bring you into the family just to tear you away from the family you already had..._ " With that, the line went dead.

"What was that about?" Garrus asked himself, putting up the phone.

Farley yipped at his feet. Garrus smirked and picked up a piece of rope. He played tug-of-war with the Shih Tzu for a few minutes before going into his daily exercise routine. Once he was done with his biking, he went to the kitchen and refilled Farley's food and water bowls. He took a quick shower and put on some TV. He'd really gotten into this old show called _Gotham_.

"Happy birthday to me..." Garrus sighed, munching on some grapes.

* * *

The guard approached the attraction. He took no hesitation in unlocking the door and entering his office. He glanced uneasily at the heads as he sat down. Like before, the phone rang when he got himself comfortable.

" _Hey man_!" Percy's voice rang out. He seemed excited. " _Okay, I have some awesome news for you_! _First of all, we found some vintage audio training cassettes. Dude, these are like, prehistoric!"_

"What's on them? Dinosaurs?" Garrus joked.

" _I think they were like, training tapes for like, other employees or something like that._ " Garrus rolled his eyes. " _So, I thought that we could like, have them playing. Like, over the speakers as people walk through the attraction._ "

"That... Is actually a good idea." Garrus said. "Good job Percy."

" _Dude, that'd make this place feel legit, man_! _But I have an even better surprise for you, and you're not gonna believe this._ " Garrus leaned in, intrigued as to what could be so exciting. " _We found one. A real one._ "

"A real what?" Garrus asked, but he had a sneaking feeling that he knew exactly what Percy was talking about.

" _Uh-uh-uh, gotta go, man_!" Percy said in a hurry. " _Uh, we-well look, it's in there somewhere. I-I'm sure you'll see it. Okay, I'll leave you with some of this great audio that I found_! _Talk to you later, man_!"

"Oh no..." Garrus said. He'd been checking the cameras, and he'd just seen something he thought only existed in his dreams. On the screen was Springtrap...

* * *

" _Uh, hello_? _Hello, hello_?" A voice similar to Shaf's came out of the phone. " _Uh, welcome to your new career as a performer/entertainer for Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. Uh... These tapes will provide you with much needed information on how to handle/climb into/climb out of mascot costumes. Right now, we have two specially designed suits that double as both animatronic and suit_!"

"Good for you!" Garrus yelled while trying to keep a track of where Springtrap was going. His mother's words were echoing in his mind. _There's more to that job than meets the eye..._ Did she know this would happen?

" _So please pay close attention while learning how to operate these suits as accidents/injuries/death/irreparable and grotesque maiming can occur._ " Garrus froze.

"At least I know these tapes will definitely creep out the customers." He whispered, shivering.

" _First of all, we'll discuss how to operate the mascots while they are in animatronic form._ " The recording said. " _For ease of operation, the animatronics are set to turn and walk towards sound feed. This is an easy and hands-free approach to making sure the animatronics stay where the children are for maximum entertainment/crowd-pleasing value._ "

"Thank God!" Garrus said, seeing that he could play audio in certain rooms. He distracted Spring and continued to listen to the tape.

" _To change the animatronics to suit mode, insert and turn firmly the hand crank provided by the manufacturer_!" The recording explained. " _Turning the crank will recoil and compress the animatronic parts around the sides of the suit, providing room to climb inside._ "

"Not going to help me right now." Garrus grumbled. He found that the audio would sometimes stop working. Percy wasn't kidding when he said some of the equipment was barely functional. And that just happened to put his life in danger. What had he seen in this job?

" _Please make sure that spring-locks are fastened tight to ensure the animatronic devices remain safe_!" Garrus frowned. That weird thing in his dream had mentioned something about locks failing. " _We will cover this in more detail in tomorrow's session. Remember to smile_! _You are the face of Freddy Fazbear's Pizza_!"

"I'm pretty sure the face of Freddy Fazbear's Pizza is Freddy." Garrus growled as the recording ended. "But whatever."

The young guard clicked on camera ten and was met face-to-face with what looked like the boy from his dreams. However, the boy seemed to be badly burnt and damaged. Suddenly, the monitor fell to reveal the boy standing in front of Garrus. The guard screamed as BB screeched and lunged at him. Garrus closed his eyes, waiting for his death. It never came. He opened his eyes and saw that the boy was gone. However, the ventilation had to be rebooted. Garrus breathed heavily as oxygen slowly seeped out of the room. Once the systems rebooted, the guard continued his search on the cameras.

Garrus came to camera seven, which was pointed at an arcade machine. The guard thought that the machine's buttons looked familiar. It took him just seconds to remember why.

"What was it again?" He asked himself. "Top left, bottom left, top right, bottom right?" He pressed those buttons... And nothing happened. "Hope I did that right." He said while returning to the other cameras.

Garrus quickly located Spring in camera three, but he shouldn't have to worry as his shift was ending soon. The guard switched to camera four, where a mangled, burnt version of the vixen in his dreams hung from the ceiling. Once again, the monitor fell. Garrus watched in horror as Mangle's head popped up from behind the window. She screeched in her weird garble for a few minutes before disappearing. Surely that noise must have attracted Spring! Garrus went to distract the rabbit when he found his audio wasn't working.

"Not now!" Garrus complained, rebooting the system. He turned back towards the cameras to see Spring staring at him from the window. "No... How did you get so close?!" The robot didn't respond.

Garrus quickly picked up the monitor and tried to distract Spring. He didn't check to see if it worked before switching to camera eight. There, he saw a drawing of the child, BB. Remembering the message from his dreams, Garrus clicked on the drawing twice. Then, he lowered his cameras to find that Spring was still in the same place.

"Can you leave?" Garrus asked. The animatronic stood there, unmoving. "You seemed a little bit more reasonable in my dreams..." Garrus mumbled to himself so that Spring wouldn't hear.

Throughout the building, a chime rang. Garrus was shocked as Spring started to head towards his starting position. He had survived! Garrus spared no time in grabbing his bag and running to the exit. When the door was securely locked behind him, Garrus fell to his knees in relief. He laughed away the stress for a few minutes, only one question on his mind.

" _How am I going to survive tomorrow_?"

* * *

BB looked around at the new location he was in. Around him was pitch dark, but he could see bright blue platforms with crimson balloons on them. Out of curiosity, he jumped to see if he could reach them. He landed on the first platform and grabbed two balloons. Now that he was higher, he could see some white clouds.

"Where am I?" The balloon vendor asked himself.

He climbed a few more platforms, collecting more balloons. Once he collected all of the balloons in sight, a gray door appeared at the ground. The door seemed to be beckoning him to enter, but the young boy didn't want to. Something about the door was unsettling to him. The boy jumped down to one of the previous platforms, and realized the balloons he had collected were actually making him gently float down.

"I wonder..." He said. There was a cliff just behind the door. If the balloons let him float...

BB took a deep breath and jumped. He slowly floated down in complete darkness until the scenery changed. The world around him now looked like it was made of static. Scared, the balloon vendor moved forward, hoping to leave as soon as possible. Eventually, BB came across a shadowy tree with three shadowy versions of himself crying. He was unsettled, but didn't stop to ponder on them. He had to move forward.

The scenery changed back to its original color, and BB found himself in a location with more platforms and clouds. The boy climbed them, making his way towards a final, multicolored balloon. He reached out and grasped it. The world faded around him, and he found himself back where he started.

* * *

Mangle didn't enjoy the feeling of just being a head. Just above her, on a lavender platform, sat her spine and one of her legs. She clacked her jaw a few times, realizing that slightly moved her. Using her jaw, she inched her head forward until she was at the edge of the platform. Then, she bit the side of the platform and climbed up using solely her jaw muscles. Once she was next to the pieces of her, Mangle suddenly found she was slightly rebuilt using the pieces she found. She didn't know how it happened, but she wasn't going to question it.

She entered the next room to find a child wearing a green shirt and blue jeans. She remembered the child as being one of the original children to tear her apart. He started to approach her with that creepy smile of his. Fearing for her life, Mangle jumped towards the nearest platform and climbed up, finding her other leg in the process. Using blue windows as support in getting to the next platforms, Mangle quickly finds one of her arms. She jumps into the next area to find her second head. As soon as she grabs it, the gray exit door that BB encountered appeared.

"Why is there another platform?" Mangle questions.

She jumps to the platform and pushes on the wall next to it. It gives away, bringing Mangle down with it. The scenery changes to red static as she falls. Just when she thinks it's all over, she lands softly on the ground next to a giant version of Puppet that was letting out two waterfalls of shadowy tears.

"Okay..." Mangle said, eyeing the giant Puppet warily. She walked past it to find more platforms. These ones, however, were made out of crimson balloons. She climbed up them, heading towards a blue crescent moon. When she reached the top, she saw another balloon platform with a magnificent cake on it. She jumped towards the cake, and her world faded into static.

* * *

BB sighed as he collected the balloons again. Was he just going to keep doing this forever? Once again, he jumped off of the cliff. This time, however, he didn't land on the ground. He landed on a balloon platform, and he could see more. He jumped from platform to platform until he finally saw his goal on one of the normal blue platforms.

A girl with medium-length brown hair was crying her eyes out. She wore a brown suit that matched her hair and a black top hat. Her eyes were closed, but BB knew they were a radiant blue.

"Frederica?" The girl didn't answer him. She just cried more.

The balloon vendor approached her slowly. Leo had told him of the children that inhabited the originals. This was clearly Frederica, Freddy's child. As he approached, he felt a growing pressure in his hand. He looked down to see he was holding a cake.

"Hey Frederica." BB said, putting the cake down in front of her. "Why don't you show me those pretty blue eyes of yours? I'm here for you."

Her sobbing stopped, and she looked at BB, opening her eyes. They stared at each other for a few seconds before Frederica jumped into BB's arms, wanting a hug. He comforted the child as they were surrounded by a blinding white light. He could see the outline of a bear mask forming on Frederica's face before the light disappeared, and everything vanished.


	4. Astrid

**Chapter Four: "Astrid"**

 _Freddy Fazbear's Pizza – August 7th, 2023;_

Leo stared down at what was left of the manager's office. Most of the place was wrecked. The wood had rotted and started to decay long ago. Hopefully, the lion would be able to find something worthwhile in here. He needed to know more, and Puppet wasn't the only source of information in the building...

He pulled open a few drawers and rummaged through them. There were tons of business orders, and receipts from the times the Pizzeria had to buy more ingredients. As he kept overturning papers and opening drawers, he heard something fall behind him. He turned to see that a book had fallen off of the shelf. The lion picked it up and examined it.

It seemed to be somebody's diary. It was a light shade of purple, and had a locked cover. There was a paper jutting out of the top, but Leo didn't dare to see if he could pull it out. He flipped the book over and saw something scribbled at the bottom. ' _Property of Scott Cawthon_.'

"What's this doing in Mr. Fazbear's office?" Leo asked himself. "Well... If Scott left this here then I guess he wouldn't mind me taking a look..."

Using his claws, he slowly pried off the lock that kept the diary concealed. Once that was out of his way, the lion flipped to the page that the paper was stuck in. He pulled it out, revealing it to be a newspaper clipping.

' _I_ ' _m sorry_...' was scribbled on top of pictures of five children. There was a boy with light brown hair and blue eyes, a boy with blue hair and green eyes, a girl with blonde hair and blue eyes, a girl with hot pink hair and amber eyes, and a boy with dirty blonde hair and blue eyes. Most of them looked like teenagers, with the exception of the dirty blonde-haired boy. They all looked uncomfortably familiar...

Leo stuffed the clipping into his pocket and flipped to the front of the diary. He skipped through a bunch of ramblings about a friend wanting Scott to buy a failing diner until he came to a page that caught his eyes.

" _I can't believe it. I actually bought it. Without Fritz, I never would have had the courage to approach the owners. This is so unreal... But now Fritz is worried about me. He wants me to keep my name a secret. He suggested to name myself after the company. Fazbear... It sounds so stupid! I've got a new rabbit animatronic in the works, courtesy of Fritz... I can't help but wonder what would of happened if I'd never met him..._ "

"You probably would've lived a longer life..." Leo growled to himself. So this was Mr. Fazbear's diary? He didn't know that the old man was even friends with that scumbag Fritz... He skipped to another article that stood out to him.

 _"The new animatronic is finished. Project Spring Bonnie took a while to make... But he's finally here! That's the good news. The bad news is that he isn't popular. We've had like three customers. This is a boring start... But I'm sure it will get better! They have to... We spent so much money on them. I would've thought old customers of the diner would have returned because we still have Fredbear. We've really put a lot of work into retrofitting him to be like Spring Bonnie. They can now act as animatronics and suits, automatically walk to where the most noise is, and a bunch of other cool stuff. It'll catch on eventually. It has to..._ "

"How long has Scott been running this place?" Leo asked himself. "I didn't think he was this old!" After a bit more skimming, the lion comes across a short entry. One that sounds all too familiar...

" _The locks failed... Poor Shaun and Stefan died. I don't know what happened... Maybe they breathed on the locks? Did they not use the handles correctly? Fritz is going to send a message to the other locations about the accident. We can't let these spring locks take more lives. We plan to keep the place open. We... Just have to buy new models... I can only pray that this all ends soon..._ "

"Shaun and Stefan?" Leo asked himself. "I wonder..." The lion read on, quickly finding what has to be the shortest entry in the entire diary.

" _He's gone... I can't believe Percy... Oh my God... How could he?!_ "

"Who's gone?" Leo asks himself. He turns the page, and almost drops the diary in shock at what he sees.

" _Fritz killed them for me... They took him, and he took their children. He invited them to a party in the back room and killed them there. Then, he came back later and positioned them outside Pirate's Cove... That's when the bodies disappeared. I acted innocent during the questioning. I acted as if he never told me anything. I gave my condolences to the families, especially Edward. He lost more children than all of the others that day. I gave them the same empty condolences they gave me... And I've never felt more alive..._ "

"He knew?!" Leo asked to nobody in particular. "And he... I can't believe I used to work for this man..." Despite his best wishes, the lion read on.

" _They arrested Fritz. They know it's him, but they have no proof. Even he doesn't know where the bodies are. We're being bombarded with threats of closure. Someone even said that the new animatronics reminded them of reanimated carcasses... There's no way that we can last the year. But we will reopen. I've gotten enough money to order brand new animatronics. It'll take a couple of months to get everything back together, but we will persevere._ "

"You'd think they'd have found this diary..." Leo growled. "But apparently not..."

" _We've finally reopened... Took a lot longer than I thought. I've got brand new animatronics and I even have the old ones in storage. Well, we brought Puppet back out. After all, he is a memoir to Bernard... We left the other models in hidden rooms at the other place. I don't even want to look at Fredbear anymore... The Toys are already more popular than the old models. Hopefully, we can all put the past behind us, and have some peace for once..._ "

"Bernard? Never heard of the guy... He must have been important to Scott or something..." Leo mutters. Then, he drops the book as soon as he takes one look at the next article. "No..."

" _Things haven't been the same since we moved, so I decided to bring back something else... There was a group of teens that stayed late, and went exploring near the office. I had already locked the doors when I found them snooping around... They ran and hid in various places. I tracked down and slaughtered each and every one of them. Unlike Fritz, I'm going to cover my tracks. I think I now understand what happened to the other bodies... Not all Toys are perfect..._ "

"No..." Leo says, pulling out the newspaper clipping in his pocket. He thought they'd looked familiar... But these weren't the children inside of Freddy and the others. These were...

"Leo?" Amanda asked, knocking on the door. "Leo, can you come out here?"

"Sure, Amanda..." Leo said, picking up the diary. He stuffed it into his pocket and opened the door. "What do you need?"

"We were just hanging out with Spring." Amanda said. "He's pretty good with a guitar... You want to come join us? It's been a while since we've all just hung out."

"Sure..." Leo said after some thought. "I should get to know this new guy..."

"Come on!" Amanda said, grabbing her fiance's paw. "They're just about to start a song!"

"You think they'll let me sing?" Leo asked, smirking. Amanda laughed.

"Not if they knew how bad you are!" She joked. Both lions chuckled and walked towards the show stage.

* * *

Garrus was expecting it this time. He looked down and saw purple fur, meaning he was in the rabbit. He stepped off the stage and ran to the west hallway. There, on his right, he saw four cupcakes on the wall. Wow... These clues were so obvious.

" **Follow me**..." Shaf said behind him. Sighing, Garrus followed the purple bear, trying to embed the clue into his mind.

Like before, Garrus was lead to the back room. And just like before, the man in the purple outfit came. Garrus watched helplessly as Bonnie was torn apart next to the corpse of Freddy Fazbear...

* * *

 _Garrus' Apartment – August 14th, 2023;_

"Wake up, honey." A feminine voice said. Garrus lifted his face off of his kitchen table, confused.

"What?" He looked up and was met by the sight of a beautiful lady with long, black hair and blood-red eyes. She wore a long, yellow summer dress that ended just above her ankles. "Who are you?"

"Don't tell me that you're too drunk to remember earlier." The lady sighed. "My name is Astrid. You offered to drive me to the store, but ended up taking me here. From the fact that you passed out as soon as you sat down, I guess you went to a bar and started drinking rather... Heavily."

"Why didn't you leave, Astrid?" Garrus asked, rubbing his eyes.

"I wanted to be sure that you didn't overdose on anything." Astrid said as if it were obvious. "Plus, I have nowhere else to go..."

"What do you mean?" Garrus asked.

"I was evicted." Astrid said, sighing. "My job doesn't pay much, and the rent was too high..."

"You can stay here if you like." Garrus said, wondering why he was saying that in the first place.

"Really?!" Astrid gasped. "You'd let me crash here until I can get back on my feet?!"

"Yeah..." Garrus promised. "You can stay here."

"Thank you!" Astrid shouts, engulfing Garrus in a hug. "You have no idea just how much this means to me!"

"You're welcome..." Garrus awkwardly returned the hug, and was thankful when Astrid ended it early, blushing.

"Your dog is nice..." Astrid said, eager to change the topic.

"Yeah... Where is Farley?" Garrus asked, looking for the Shih Tzu. He sees the dog sleeping peacefully on the living room couch. "Strange... Usually he is restless when we have visitors..."

"Well, I'm not a very interesting person..." Astrid sighed. "You should get going, your shift starts in an hour." Garrus raised an eyebrow.

"How do you-" He began, but Astrid quickly cut him off.

"Everyone in town knows who the unfortunate soul working at the horror attraction is." She said. "There are rumors that the robots used to come alive at night, and hunt down whoever was left in the building. And I hear one of those robots was just brought to the attraction..."

"Yeah..." Garrus said, his mouth dry.

"Well..." Astrid said. "If you aren't back in the morning, I'll call the cops. Be careful, okay?"

"Okay..." Garrus promised. Astrid sighed and hugged him once more.

"I'll see you later." She said, blushing. "Bye..."

* * *

" _Uh, hello? Hello?_ " The training tapes continue. " _Uh, for today's lesson,we will be continuing our training on proper suit-handling techniques._ "

"Unless you can tell me where to find an extra hand crank," Garrus growled, distracting Spring, "shut up!"

" _When using an animatronic as a suit, please ensure that the animatronic parts are tightly compressed and fastened by the spring-locks located around the inside of the suit._ " The tapes press on. " _It may take a few moments to position your head and torso between these parts in a manner where you can move and speak. Try not to nudge or press against any of the spring-locks inside of the suit._ "

"Or else you will be brutally murdered and we won't cover your health insurance." Garrus mocked.

" _Do not touch the spring-locks at any time. Do not breathe on the spring-locks, as moisture may loosen them, and cause them to break loose_." Garrus sighed upon hearing this. Who in their right minds would wear such a feeble contraption? " _In the case of the spring-locks come loose while you are wearing the suit, please try to maneuver away from populated areas before bleeding out, as to not ruin the customers' experience._ "

"Wait, what?!" Garrus shouted. What kind of sick corporation cares more about entertainment than human life?!

" _As always, if there is ever an emergency, please go to the designated safe room._ " The macabre tapes persist. " _Every location is built with one extra room that is not included in the digital map layout programmed in the animatronics or security systems._ "

"Why aren't they on the cameras?!" Garrus growled. "Pretty sure it would be helpful to know that such a room existed!" As he said this, he quickly flipped through all of the cameras to see if he could find an area where such a veiled room could be.

" _This room is hidden to customers, invisible to animatronics, and is always off-camera. As always, remember to smile, you are the face of Freddy Fazbear's Pizza._ "

* * *

Garrus took a moment to mentally scold himself when he realized he'd kept the cameras unattended. He skipped through them, surprisingly finding Spring in camera ten. Confused, Garrus closed the vent and kept an eye on the rabbit. Once or twice, he would go into the vent and come back out, but the bunny did nothing else.

And just like that, he vanished.

"What?!" Garrus yelled, flipping through the cameras. After taking a glimpse at camera seven, he feels another presence in the room with him. He flicks the monitor down and turns, only for him to nearly fall out of his chair with a screech as a ghostly chicken jumps out at him.

When Garrus finally recovered from the shock, he looked around his office. Nothing was out of its normal place. It was as if that had never occurred.

After switching his mind-set back to checking the cameras, Garrus quickly notices some new additions to the attraction.

"You've got to be kidding me..." He mumbles as he clicks on the cupcake in camera three. After his touch, the cupcake disappears. He finds identical cupcakes in cameras two, four, and six.

" _Help me_..." Garrus felt a chill go down his spine as his fingers froze just above the camera system. The chilling voice echoed throughout the halls. The night guard could almost swear that it sounded like Percy...

"H-hello?" He silently stood up from his chair, wondering who else was in here with him...

" _Help me..._ " The voice was close... In fact, it sounded like it was just beyond the door to the office...

Daringly, Garrus stuck his head out of the office door, and looked to the right. Nothing... Looking left, Garrus' whole body went rigid. Spring stared back at him, standing just in front of the exit to the attraction.

"This isn't possible..." Garrus whispered. "You were just at the other exit... How...?"

" _Help me..._ " Spring pleads, surprising the guard. Garrus didn't know what kind of trick this was, but he wasn't going to fall for it...

Running back to his chair, Garrus quickly brought up the cameras and spammed the audio in the corner where Spring still stood. The rabbit seemed confused, which was good news for Garrus. Before Spring could recover, Garrus rebooted the audio that had gone offline from his recent abuse of it, and repeated the aforementioned process.

The call of salvation rang throughout the building, music to Garrus' ears. The guard watched Spring slowly trudge away to the other side of the attraction before he made his dash to the exit. Not even waiting to put on his seat belt, Garrus drove out of the parking lot, safe at last...

* * *

Garrus returned home to find the door ajar. Quickly, the guard sprung from his car and sprinted towards the open door. He burst inside, looking around at the seemingly untouched living room.

Quietly, Garrus walked towards his kitchen, careful not to step on any loose tile. The plan was to grab a knife, find the intruder, and...

Garrus was brought from his thoughts when he saw the counter. On it lay a black tuxedo with a yellow bow tie. A similar yellow top hat sat upon a note, with a seemingly fancy font.

Carefully, Garrus picked up the note, which had his name on it. He opened it, half expecting it to explode in his face.

" _You should always dress your best for your guest..._ "

There was no signature, no return address, nothing that could tell Garrus who had sent this. A playful yip made Garrus spin around, ready to attack. Farley happily barked and wagged his tail.

"You're home." Astrid said, smiling. Her smile soon faded into a frown when she saw the tuxedo. "Were you planning to go anywhere?"

"No..." Garrus said. "Did you put this tux here? I didn't get it... The door... It was open." Instantly, Astrid's eyes widened.

"What?!" She shouted. She turned around, as if she was expecting someone to be standing behind her. "We need to check the house! What if they never left?! I'm so sorry! I didn't know anyone was here!"

"It's alright." Garrus said. "Just help me look around... They couldn't have gone far..."

* * *

Chi looked around the room. It was shamrock green, with bright yellow windows. She looked down at her empty serving plate. It felt so weird, not having her cupcake...

She took a few steps forward, and found a cupcake sitting on a platform. She jumped onto the platform, and took the cake. There were two more platforms, one of which had another cupcake. Chi wasn't interested. She only needed a single cupcake.

She jumped down from the platform, and almost slipped when she found herself at the edge of a hole in the ground. Peering over the ledge, she saw two paths. One lead to two crying children. Down the other, she could just barely make out a red balloon...

"BB?" She called out. There was no response...

Deciding to take a risk, Chi fell down the path where the balloon was. She landed softly on it, and saw a face that seemed so familiar, yet so different...

"Chelsea?" Chi called out to the toddler. The chicken put a wing on her shoulder, feeling the girl's body shaking from her sobs.

"Go away..." Chelsea said. "Just leave me alone..."

"Hey," Chi said, hugging the girl, "tell me what's wrong. You shouldn't be so sad..."

"What's wrong?" Chelsea asked, still shaking. "Everything's wrong... I don't even know how long I've been here... Why hasn't anyone come to get me?"

"We've tried." Chi says, choking back a sob of her own. "We've been trying to find all of you... I remember when we used to hang out, back at the Pizzeria... I remember how much you loved to bake..."

"So?" Chelsea asked. "I can't cook anything now that I'm dead..."

"We'll find a way." Chi says. "I'll find you a stove, some bowls, ingredients... I'll teach you to make your own cupcakes."

"Really?" Chelsea asks, turning slightly to look into Chi's eyes. The chicken nods.

"You'll make the best cupcakes." She promises the girl. "Everyone for miles around would come to the Pizzeria just to get a single taste of your cooking."

"Thank you..." Chelsea whispers. She turns around completely, and hugs the chicken, her small body slowly fading into light. Just as she disappears, a chicken mask forms on her face. Even after she was gone, Chi kept her wings around the air where the child once sat.

And like sand in the wind, Chi found herself disappearing.

She accepted her fate. She'd played her role...

All that mattered was that Chelsea was safe...

Soon, all that was left was the plate, and a cupcake. The only sweet thing in a sea of darkness...


	5. Caught Purple-Handed

**Chapter Five: "Caught Purple-Handed"**

 _Freddy Fazbear's Pizza – August 8th, 2023;_

Midnight descended upon the weary residents of the small town. The townspeople slept, blissfully unaware of the events that would soon transpire. But this peaceful ignorance would not last forever. In fact, it was about to be shattered by a fervent flame. One that would burn through the night, leaving a vile scar upon the town. Those who would bear witness to this wretched inferno would remember it for as long as they lived, unaware that the embers and kindling still burned, ready to spark anew...

As it were, the residents of the abandoned Pizzeria still celebrated the uncovering of Springtrap. The decrepit rabbit seemed friendly enough, but BB knew that there was something different about him. There were some small tears in Spring's suit. They leaked an odd substance, which made BB gag in disgust. Leo also seemed to notice this, but showed no signs of questioning it.

But BB needed answers.

His first instinct was to get one of the adults, but that was impossible. They liked Spring, and knew only about as much as BB did. No, he'd have to find someone else...

Someone like JJ! BB hadn't seen his friend after he'd been scrapped. She had remained inside the Pizzeria, which had saddened BB. He had missed his friend dearly during his stay in the scrapyard. Surely, she must know who this strange rabbit could be.

BB excused himself, and left for the office. While none questioned his sudden desire to leave, he had the strangest sensation that he was being watched. Fighting the urge to glance back, BB entered the office.

"JJ...?" He called out. His friend climbed out from under the desk.

"Yes, BB?" She asked in her hushed voice.

"I don't like the new guy, Spring..." BB admitted. "Do you know who he is? You've been here longer than me..." JJ thought for a moment.

"Yes, I know him." JJ revealed. "Though I'm not sure you will, BB..."

"What do you mean?" BB asked.

"Get the lion." JJ commanded. "He will understand... It is time I make myself known..."

* * *

"Leo?" BB asked the lion, tugging ever so slightly on the lion's sleeve.

"Yes, BB?" Leo asked, turning his attention to the small, but no longer young, boy.

"I want to show you something." BB said. "It's in the office. Come on!"

"Hold on." Leo said. "What do you want to show me?"

"You'll see." BB said. "It's hard to explain. Just come with me, please!"

"Okay..." Leo said, squinting at BB. "Ill be right back, guys..." The others nodded, and Leo followed BB to the office.

"Don't freak out..." BB said, turning to face Leo. "But... I've been talking to a girl in here... Usually, you can't see her, but she said she'd appear for you this once!"

"Okay, BB." Leo said, chuckling. No doubt, this had to be one of the child's imaginary friends. "Let's go meet your friend."

"She's by the desk." BB said. He then went to stand by the door, having been instructed earlier to not enter the office with Leo.

The lion entered the musky, dimly lit room. He would go along with this, if only to appease the child. Never had he expected to see what appeared to be a female version of BB sitting by the desk. The girl stared at Leo, sending a chill down his spine. After a moment, she spoke.

"You have the diary?" She asked. Leo hesitated before nodding. "Good. There is something you need to see. Footage from long ago. I have kept it safe. Use it well." From under the desk, she produced what appeared to be an aged, rusted monitor. Like the security camera system from when the lion still had a show...

"Thank you..." He said. He took the monitor, and studied it for a moment. When he looked up, the girl was walking away. She didn't look back. Within seconds, it seemed, there was a blindingly luminescent flash of light... And she was gone.

"Where's JJ?" BB asked, standing in the doorway. Leo blinked.

"She went to go get something, BB." The lion lied. "Go back to the others... I have things to do..."

"Okay..." BB said glumly before turning to leave for the dining room.

The monitor was so ancient, Leo was surprised it worked at all. Of course, it barely functioned as it was, but it served its purpose. The last of the data recorded was dated just before Leo had returned to the Pizzeria. Just before he'd found the bodies...

The lion clicked on the footage. There was a lot of static, and the screen was cracked in multiple places, but Leo could clearly see what was going on. There was Mr. Fazbear, or Scott Cawthon, according to the diary. He was pacing around the room, screaming at... Something. What that something was, Leo couldn't see.

" _I did it for you, Bernard!_ " The recording of Scott screeched. " _Aren't you happy? They got what they deserved! Nobody hurts you and gets away with it!_ "

Bernard? According to the diary, Bernard was dead... The lion began to think of some of the last entries in the diary. It finally all clicked. These were the words of a madman...

" _Why are you doing this, Bernard?!_ " Scott asked the air. " _Aren't you happy?! Isn't this what you wanted?!_ " Cawthon growled in disgust, and paced around the room. He seemed almost... Afraid. Terrified, even.

"What is he going on about...?" Leo mumbled. "Nobody's there..."

Finally, Scott sighed deeply. " _Well, if that didn't make you happy, I'll have to try something else..._ " As he said that, Scott ran to the other end of the room.

Suddenly, the footage's point of view changed. Instead of looking from the ceiling, it now lay at ground level. What he saw made Leo gasp. Just how far was this man going to go to make somebody who wasn't there happy?

" _Look, Bernard!_ " Scott shouted triumphantly. " _I'm Spring Bonnie! I won't let that mean old Fredbear get_ -"

At once, Scott's words turned into his dying screams. Just seconds before, an almost inaudible click had been heard. The man in the yellow suit fell to the floor, twitching violently. As Leo watched this scene play out, he noticed that the footage was changing its point of view again. It seemed as if the camera was being carried as if it were a portable device. It closed in on Scott's eyes, which were turning a dark gray before the mysterious holder of the camera. With one final twitch from Scott, the screen went dark.

Leo stood there in silence, trying to process everything. This whole time, he'd known Spring... Just by a different name. All along, this new rabbit was Mr. Fazbear...

He'd left his remaining friends and family alone with a serial killer...

Leo dropped the monitor, and it shattered upon contact with the grimy floor. But the lion didn't care. He was already sprinting down the hallway. The first spark was now lit...

* * *

Garrus was starting to get sick of these nightmares. As if he didn't have enough problems already! This time, he awoke as the bird. After stepping off of it, Garrus glanced back at the empty stage. It was a shame. This should've been a place of enjoyment. Now, it was desolate. Any hope it had was now gone with the destruction of the beloved mascots. It was all over for this place.

Like before, Garrus headed for the west hallway. On the left wall was a series of numbers.

" _395248..._ " Garrus thought. He kept saying the numbers over and over again in his head. He still didn't know why these things were important, but he knew he had to do them.

" **Follow me...** " The voice of Shaf announced.

No... Garrus knew what would happen if he followed the bear. So instead, he went in the opposite direction.

The office was in a much better condition than it had been in his other nightmares. This was what it had looked like back in its glory days. Garrus had probably been only a baby when this place was in such a great condition. He wondered how long it had stayed like this...

Garrus soon found that he had made a terrible mistake. There was no changing fate... The man entered the office, and swung his weapon. Garrus found himself being forced from the body of the animatronic once more, and he watched as the man in purple dragged Chica out of the office. She was soon to meet the fate of her friends...

* * *

 _Garrus' Apartment – August 15th, 2023;_

News about the break-in had spread quickly throughout the small town. Many attributed it to the apparent curse of being a nightwatchman at a location related to the accursed pizza place. Garrus had looked everywhere for whoever had entered his home, but the search was fruitless. The guard slowly got up from bed, and went to check on his guest.

Garrus cautiously opened the door to the guest bedroom. The lights were off, which made Garrus believe Astrid was still asleep. However, as he turned to leave, she spoke.

"Good morning, Garrus." Astrid said. As Garrus' eyes adjusted, he could see that she was sitting on the edge of her bed.

"I thought you were asleep." Garrus explained.

"I'm not a fan of lights." Astrid explained. "I like to keep things dark."

"Alright." Garrus said. "So... I'll be heading to work soon. Just wanted to make sure you're alright. Can't be too careful now that someone's broken in..."

"Before you go..." Astrid said, standing up. "There's something you should know about your boss..."

"Percy?" Garrus asked. "What do you mean?"

"There are rumors... Old rumors..." Astrid explained slowly. "They say he killed his brother... Poor little Bernard... You see, Percy never liked his brother. He and his friends tormented the poor boy... Made him wish he was dead..."

"But these are just rumors, right?" Garrus asked.

"Just listen, Garrus." Astrid said. "What Percy and his friends did was horrific... They picked little Bernard up, and shoved his poor little head into the mouth of an animatronic. A certain... Fredbear. They did it as a joke, to scare him... Never did they expect Fredbear to tear the boy's head off..."

"What?!" Garrus gulped. His boss... Did that?!

"That's not all..." Astrid said. "Poor Bernard survived... He was hospitalized for weeks... The doctors tried to save him, but progress was slow... So you know what Percy did? He pulled the plug on his own brother. Any hope of survival was gone. Bernard was dead."

"This can't be true." Garrus reasoned. "Percy's a nice guy! He's not the kind of person who'd do that!"

"People can be deceiving..." Astrid said, a small smile etched across her face. "Sometimes, the nicest people could be the evilest monsters..."

"I need to go..." Garrus said. "Work... I'll be back in the morning..."

"Good luck, Garrus." Astrid said. "I hope this new information proves useful for you..."

* * *

" _Uh, hello? Hello, hello!_ " The training tapes greeted Garrus as he sat in his chair. " _Uh, there's been a slight change in company policy concerning use of the suits... Um, don't... After learning of an unfortunate incident at a sister location, involving multiple and simultaneous spring-lock failures, the company has deemed the suits temporarily unfit for employees._ "

"I figured this was going to come up sooner or later." Garrus said. After hearing about this incident so many times in his nightmares, it was only a matter of time before these tapes mentioned it.

" _Safety is top priority at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza,_ " The tapes continue, " _which is why the classic suits are being retired to an appropriate location, while being looked at by our technician._ "

"I hope you have a good technician." Garrus said.

" _Until replacements arrive, you'll be expected to wear the temporary costumes provided to you._ " The tapes explained." _Keep in mind that they were found on very short notice, so questions about appropriateness/relevance should be deflected._ "  
"Why?" Garrus asked. "Were they that ugly?"

" _I repeat, the classic suits are not to be touched, activated, or worn._ " The tapes repeated. " _That being said, we are free of liability, do as you wish. As always, remember to smile, you are the face of Freddy Fazbear's Pizza._ "

"I'm not so sure that's such an honor anymore..." Garrus said under his breath. Let the games begin...

* * *

Spring was really starting to get aggressive. Garrus was having a difficult time just trying to keep him in one place. Gradually, the rabbit made his ways through the cameras until he was nauseatingly close to the office. While Garrus was rebooting the audio during one of his interventions from looking at the cameras, he spotted something out if the corner of his eye. Whatever it was moved slowly across the window until it disappeared from view entirely.

"What was that?" Garrus asked himself. Whatever it was, he hoped it wouldn't come back.

The guard didn't understand the newest hint he'd been given. He found nowhere in the cameras that the hint could apply to. Frustrated, Garrus threw down the monitor after his audio went out again. There, in the window, was a slow-moving bear. Garrus watched it for a second, before it once again disappeared from sight.

"What was that about?" Garrus asked aloud before going to bring up the maintenance panel. However, as he tried to do that, Garrus was suddenly thrown from his seat as the bear from earlier screeched in his face. It had seemed to come out of nowhere!

The discombobulated Garrus put his hand on the wall in front of him to help him stand, only to feel the tile move beneath his hand. He looked up, and noticed a three-by-three grid of tiles that seemed to slightly glow blue. If this were a phone, Garrus just would've pressed three...

"You have got to be kidding me..." Garrus groaned as he put the code in. He then returned to his seat, slightly miffed. How on Earth was he supposed to figure that out if not by accident?!

But his state of exasperation was short-lived, as he saw a familiar face poking into the office door. Faith left the destine guard at that moment. His demise was almost certainly assured.

The ventilation gave out. The emergency alarms blared out, the room flashed crimson, and Garrus found his eyes closing. He tried his best to keep them open, but consciousness was soon to escape him. Just one blink, and he'd be gone...

He closed his eyes, vanquished. He expected his death to be quick... But just when all seemed lost, he opened his eyes. Spring hadn't moved.

Confused, Garrus looked around. That's when he realized that Spring wasn't the only other person in the room... A fox, just as badly burned as the others, stood at the edge of the window. The fox, which was missing his right arm, stared at the guard. For a second, Garrus thought the fox would do nothing. But contrary to that thought, the fox lunged, screeching.

Garrus once again closed his eyes. The blaring of the alarms grew louder, and the crimson flashes illuminated the room so much that Garrus could see them through his shut eyelids. Clearly, the appearance of the fox was just to give Garrus a little hope, just for it to be squashed underfoot almost as instantly as it had been formed.

Accepting his fate, Garrus once again opened his eyes. Instead of death, his ears were met with a heavenly chime. Spring was nowhere in sight.

* * *

Goldie didn't understand this place. He'd tried to teleport out of the room, but that only succeeded in bringing the bear back into the same room. An unfamiliar golden rabbit was on a stage, performing for exactly three kids. These kids all wore the same exact attire, green pants and shirts. In fact, all of the kids had the same features. It was if they were all clones of each other.

This place was confusing...

The yellow bear continued his teleporting, getting the same result every time. Exhausted, Goldie decided that he'd give it one more try before he gave up. He closed his eyes, feeling the cold expanse of nothingness encase him like a cocoon. When he opened his eyes, he found himself in a similar room... But there was one difference...

There was a door.

It was a light gray. It gave out a feeling of emptiness, and abandonment. Wherever it lead to, Goldie didn't want to know. But now, he knew... His teleportation was doing something. It was cycling him through various copies of the exact same room!

Goldie teleported once more, and opened his eyes. This room only had two children. Finally, he was making progress! But, Goldie felt that he'd gone too far. Moving forward had only succeeded in bringing him to an exit, and now features were starting to disappear from the rooms entirely. What if the solution wasn't to move forward, but to move back?

The bear concentrated, and moved back through all of the copy-cat rooms. He could feel hope fluttering in his chest. This was it! This had to be the way out! Finally, Goldie closed his eyes, and opened them to find himself in a different room altogether.

Felix sat at the other end of the stage, crying. When Goldie appeared, the child turned, and ran to him.

"Goldie!" He shouted, hugging the bear. "You've got to stop her! She's going to kill Daddy!"

"Huh?" Goldie asked. "Who are you talking about...?"

"The lady!" Felix cried out. "She hates him! She's going to burn Daddy alive! You can't let her! You don't know what he'll do to Garrus if she kills him!"

Goldie tried his best to reassure the child, but Felix continued to cry. He insisted that some mean lady was going to kill his father, and that in turn, his father would try to kill whoever this Garrus was. But why should Felix care? He hadn't seen his father in so long, why did he still care for him? And who was Garrus? Goldie had never heard of him.

"Calm down, Felix." Goldie said. The bear looked up, and saw some cake just ahead. The quick-thinking bear did the obvious thing to calm a child. He offered Felix a treat. "Do you want some cake to make you feel better?"

"Yeah..." Felix quietly admitted. Goldie took a slice of the cake, and gave it to the crying kid. Felix slowly began to eat, a small smile forming on his face. Then, in a flash of light, a fox mask formed on Felix's face. Before Goldie could even react, Felix disappeared in another flash of light.

"What?!" Goldie screamed in shock as he stepped back a bit. Where was Felix?! The panic-stricken bear looked down at himself, and watched in terror as cracks began to form all around his body. He watched helplessly as he was torn apart at the seams, exploding into a shower of sparks. Only his hat remained in the aftermath, floating down onto an otherwise empty stage. A spotlight shined down on the hat, making it clearly visible to anyone who would enter the room.

From the shadows, another yellow bear emerged. Though if you'd say this bear was anything similar to Goldie, many would've looked at you funny. This bear was large, and ghastly. In his stomach was a mouth with great big, sharp teeth. His regular mouth was filled with rows of similar teeth, all oozing a foul liquid. The bear reached out for Goldie's hat, recoiling slightly when the spotlight touched his paw. Swiftly, the bear swept the hat from the light, and put it on. The bear chuckled.

" _It's me..._ " The bear announced to the world, a smirk ever present on his face.

* * *

Amanda was cold, and lonely. She sat in the secret room, having only Goldie for company. Everyone else was dead. The lioness looked at the bear, noticing his eyes were slightly dimming.

"No!" Amanda shouted, springing to her feet. She shook the bear harshly, tears brimming her eyes. "No! Don't leave me here! Please! I don't want to be alone!"

But alas, despite all of her begging, the bears eyes darkened. And soon, there was nothing left in his eyes. This had happened to all of the others, before the men took them away. Now she was alone. The sole survivor of a tragedy.

She fell to her knees, and wept. Why did this have to happen? Everything was going fine until Spring came along...

"Spring!" She spat harshly, treating the name as if it were poison. "This is all your fault! You took them away from me! Why didn't you kill me too?! Then I wouldn't have to be alone!"

" **Oh, but you're not alone, Miss Assion.** " A voice said behind her. " **No, you were never alone.** "

"What?!" She twirled around, and was met face-to-face with a purple bear. He smirked at her, enjoying the confusion in her face. "You! Leo told me about you! You're Shaf! You're a Shadow!"

" **Shaf?** " The bear mused. " **No, you must have mistaken me. Shaf is long gone. If you'd like, you could call me Stefan.** "

"Okay, Stefan..." Amanda said cautiously. "What do you want?"

" **What do I want?** " Stefan asked. " **What is it that you want, Miss Assion? You seek revenge. I can see it in your heart. You despise Spring. He took everything from you! Coincidentally, he has also taken somebody precious to me. I could help you get what you want. And if you'd do this, I could also save my friend from his wrath. It's a win-win situation. So, what do you say?** "

Amanda blinked. This bear was willing to help her get back at Spring... More so than she desired company, she yearned for the death of that accursed rabbit. "Yes..."

" **Good...** " Stefan chuckled. He then held out his paw. " **Take my paw, Miss Assion. We have much to discuss before tomorrow morning. We will watch him burn, and any who stand in our way will burn with him!** "

Unsteadily, Amanda took hold of the bear's paw, and stood. Stefan smirked evilly.

" **We have much work to do, Miss Assion... Much work to do indeed...** "


End file.
